DEALING WITH OPERATIONAL DIFFICULTIES Cellular telephones are rugged and reliable. They have to be, since their very nature dictates that they will be banged around and subjected to extremes of heat and cold in briefcases, automobiles, and other places. They rarely fail. Most of any difficulties with your cellphone will arise from the conditions under which it is used and, possibly, from your initial unfamiliarity with the equipment and with cellular systems in general. This chapter will help you to understand some of the difficulties you may encounter in using your cellular phone, and, when possible, will show you what you. | The Cellular Connection A Guide to Cellular Telephones Fourth Edition. Robert A. Steuernagel Copyright 2000 John Wiley Sons Inc. ISBNs 0-471-31652-0 Paper 0-471-20340-8 Electronic 10 DEALING WITH OPERATIONAL DIFFICULTIES Cellular telephones are rugged and reliable. They have to be since their very nature dictates that they will be banged around and subjected to extremes of heat and cold in briefcases automobiles and other places. They rarely fail. Most of any difficulties with your cellphone will arise from the conditions under which it is used and possibly from your initial unfamiliarity with the equipment and with cellular systems in general. This chapter will help you to understand some of the difficulties you may encounter in using your cellular phone and when possible will show you what you can do about them. BAD CONNECTIONS As with any phone system once in a while you will get a bad connection with your cellular phone. This is particularly true in fringe areas near the edge of a company s area of service or where the terrain interferes with the system s radio signals. Often it is possible to continue a conversation under poor conditions but sometimes things get so bad that you are automatically disconnected. Disconnects occur because of signal dropouts either your phone loses the signal from the cell site or the cell loses the signal from your phone. These two things do not always happen simultaneously 97 98 DEALING WITH OPERATIONAL DIFFICULTIES sometimes you will be able to hear the other party but they won t be able to hear you or vice versa. Sometimes there is a way to tell when a disconnect is going to happen allowing you to exit gracefully from a call before you are cut off. All phone systems landline and cellular provide some sort of audio feedback. That is when you speak you can hear a portion of the electrical signal your end of the conversation in the earpiece of your phone. This phenomenon is sometimes called side tone. You re usually not conscious
